The Tale of the Brokenhearted

Chapter 44: Distance and Depression

Alice's POV

"Well, this is just madness!" I exclaimed as I watched my brother and his fiancé zip around to and fro gathering their things. We all watched in disbelief and the ludicrous actions being taken.

"It's not madness, it's just being done for the wrong reasons," Emmett spoke up but all the while he helped them load their items into Edward's Volvo. "I understand needing time alone to grow as a couple. It's hard being an item in a house where nobody sleeps and there's no privacy but to leave just so Bella does pout is a little drastic." He shook his head and seemed as sad as I felt.

"You're not giving the girl any credit are you? She's stronger than you think she is," Esme defended Bella. I was glad some did besides myself. Edward and Leah looked at each other and Leah sighed.

"No, she isn't. I read her the last time we were together. She is grasping for something and I don't know what it is. She is spiraling down some place dark. Whenever she sees Edward and me together her spirit becomes darker. I don't want to be the cause of ... I don't want her to become suicidal." I gasped and Rose scoffed.

"You can't control how she heals," Rose commented. "You can't uproot your life for her. Pain is a part of growing and maturing. So if you don't want to go don't."

"She has a point Leah," Edward murmured and Leah shot him a glance. She huffed and closed the trunk.

"Look, I don't disagree with anything anyone has said," Leah started without looking at everyone. "Under normal circumstances I would stay but I know what is going on in her head. I will not have her blood on our hands! So what would you have us do?" Leah snapped she was frustrated and torn.

"Why don't you both just go back to the area you were staying before? We could visit you there and we could tell Bella that you vanished. That way we aren't broken up and it gives Bella time to heal?" Carlisle offered. "I agree with everyone else you leaving the coven now isn't best for everyone. I feel we must stay united especially since Alice's vision." I sighed I really wished Carlisle hadn't brought that into this.

"You had a vision?" Leah asked and I was sure Edward was surely probing my mind for some clue as to what was going on.

"Yeah, I told everyone while you two were ... occupied down here. I believe we are being watched, most of the time I feel we are being watched but in the near future I fear the Volturi will have dealings with us regarding you Leah," I wished they had been upstairs or that I had time to talk to Leah in private I knew she would blame herself.

"I see," she huffed. "I thought you said there are no rules against what I am." Leah addressed Carlisle with her hands on her hips. "I don't even act as though there's something different about me. I don't see how they would know."

"I only saw bits and pieces Leah. My guess is that one of the newborns from the war survived and made very powerful friends. They could've told them that you were supposed to be dead but you aren't." Leah rolled her eyes.

"I think it's a good idea to get an apartment. Close but not to close," Edward agreed and Leah looked over to him.

"But they just said," Leah started to protest but Edward interrupted.

"If myths are true about hybrids you should be stronger than the best of our kind and the most vicious of the shape shifter kind. I'm sure we could ward off anything that were to attempt to attack us and unite with the rest of you before any issues befall you. I do believe we need distance though." Edward smoothed a strand of hair behind Leah's ear. "For your sanity alone we need some time. Maybe just for a month or so." Leah took in a staggered breath.

"What if I just bring misery to everyone that surrounds me? What if that's all I'm capable of?" Leah whispered as she embraced Edward. She was most definitely not the woman we started off knowing. Leah was and I do believe she is blunt and strong, but right now I'd never seen her so conflicted and tamed.

"I think right now you just need some mental down time Leah and that's why we're still leaving tonight," Edward whispered back to her. He led her to the passenger's side door and she hopped in the car. Edward hugged Esme, Rose, and then me.

"Keep me posted on everything. I just feel like she needs this distance just as much and Bella does," Edward explained and I nodded. I looked past my brother and watched as Leah tried her best not to unravel. Guilt was hitting her hard and someone had to convince she did nothing wrong. My news probably didn't make her feel any better. Edward was trying to save two women from depression. I just hoped he would be successful.

Edward's POV

How did this happen so rapidly? Leah had become depressed and I watched it happen yet didn't know it was happening at the same time. I watched and she seemed dazed as she stared out the passenger's side window. It made me question myself. Maybe I was the one who brought devastation to everyone in my life? I knew it wasn't her everything was better when I was with her. She used to seem that way too.

I pulled over to the side of the road and she looked over to me with confusion in her eyes.

"I'm sorry My Love, I'm sorry you are hurting so," I confessed.

"Edward, I'm not ... I'm not hurting ... not really. I'm just trying to be a better person than I have in the past. It's not that I didn't worry about other people before but I was more concerned about me. Now I just want to make sure everyone else is okay. I'm glad we are leaving though," she chuckled a little and sighed. "I love you," she said quietly and it warmed me from within. Only she had the capability to do that with three little words.

"I love you too." I patted her knee and she reached for my hand. I guided us back onto the road and hopefully to a much needed break from the drama in Forks.